Sub menu

“Non-Partisan” Fullerton Recall Becomes Partisan

A hat tip to Matt Rowe, Fullerton’s independent candidate for city council if the recall election is successful next week. If you read the Friends for Fullerton’s Future posts and comments, a significant narrative is all about how the recall IS NOT PARTISAN. It’s all about Justice for Kelly Thomas and Police Brutality. Except “Justice for Kelly” means no additional aid for the homeless and mentally ill, and NON-PARTISAN really means partisan Republicans who owe allegiance to blogger/developer Tony Bushala.

With an email issued by Fullerton Recall leader Chris Thompson to those who signed the Recall Petitions to vote for partisan candidates, the transparency of the recall has revealed itself.

So the “Turn the Keys to the City Over to Tony Bushala Ticket” is officially Greg Seborn, Barry Levinson, and Travis Kiger. Actually, all Bushala needs is two of the three to win, and for the meager sum of $150,000, Bushala will enjoy the cheapest takeover of a city government ever in Orange County.

Is anyone really surprised? If this election was truly about replacing three inept council members with three new candidates with new ideas, new priorities, or a new vision for Fullerton, and was truly non-partisan, Thompson’s message would have been short and sweet — vote for the recall on Tuesday and Thank You.

I have to wonder if these guys have done some polling and realize their ticket is in trouble. Or if the recall is in doubt somehow. “Two out of three ain’t bad,” or so the Meatloaf song goes.

I’ll give Thompson credit. He says he is for transparency. And with less than a week to go, Thompson reveals the transparency behind this race. Recall these guys and elect these guys instead. Ones that will do the bidding of the blogger/developer in the knit ski cap. What took you so long fellas?

If you’re a Fullerton voter and you’re pro-recall, that’s completly understandable. Ron Thomas supports the recall, but doesn’t believe the recall is being conducted for “Justice for Kelly.” So, recall the bums and vote for candidates other than Seborn, Kiger and Levinson. You then would have rid Fullerton of the “Three Bald Tires” and given Fullerton back to the people instead of one man.

Greg — you are welcome to comment but the Pedroza-esqe blog-whoring isn’t appreciated. That said, I did enjoy reading your post on OJ

Chris Thompson

May 30, 2012 at 11:37 am

Is it just me, or did I just spend 9 months of my life trying to recall 3 foolish, big government Republicans with 3 small government conservatives? Did people really assume that individuals who worked on this would have no opinion about who should occupy the available offices? Maybe I should start whining about those who are backing Chaffee (well, you should whine about that)Georgieff and Rands? Shocking to me that liberals would want to elect more big government liberals…vs. big government Republicans.

Fullerton Watcher

May 30, 2012 at 11:53 am

Chris: Noo one has a problem with you supporting whomever you want. But there are a nuber of candidates running who also gave their time and energy to the recall, and arent happy when the recall campaign manager uses the banner of the recall to endorse three out of several pro-recall candidates. Your “on a personal note” disclaimer notwithstanding, you are trying to give recall signers the false impression that Levinson, Sebourn and Kiger are endorsed by the recall campaign.

You and Bushala know exactly what you are doing. Matt Rowe shouldn’t be surprised you would do this, but he has every right to be outraged.

So, Chris, what you’re saying is that the name of your PAC should have been “The Committee to Support the Recall of Bankhead, Jones, and McKinley and Replace Them with Kiger, Levinson, and Sebourn”? Because that’s not what it’s named.

Please check the e-mail inbox for recall (at) fullertonrecall.com. I too want to make use of your PAC’s list for my separate campaign in a district covering Fullerton, now that doing so is, apparently, legal.

Fullerton Watcher

May 30, 2012 at 11:37 am

Dan,

Thompson’s letter wasn’t the first evidence, it was the campaign disclosure reports from Bushala’s committees. They spell out in black-and-white who he is supporting from the IEs for Kiger, Sebourn and Levinson. Those three haven’t spent a dime on mail because they know Bushala will carry that load. The Bushala Three can hardly raise any money, and what they have raised has een spent on slate mailers.

Anyone who doesn’t think Bushala is coordinating his IEs with this council candidate friends is blind.

Tony can do what he wants with his money. The PAC for which Chris Thompson is Campaign Director, on the other hand, may face restrictions regarding what it can spend money on — and this letter was an expenditure mostly on the “new news” about the other candidates — as well as stricter laws against coordination.

I’m not the one who named this post. I’m the one who worked to recall three liberals who are unfortunately registered Republican. You can hardly accuse me of waving the Republican flag for those who behave badly. Incidentally, I apologized for the email. It was a mistake.

Dan Chmielewski

May 30, 2012 at 10:00 pm

Ever notice when conservatives are sickened by the actions of those who call themselves conservative, they rebrand the offenders as liberals. Chris, the three bald tires are not liberals in any sense of the word. Do not insult those who are politically liberal by smearing their taint on us. Shame on you

Tin foil hats

May 31, 2012 at 12:33 pm

Thompson and Tony ought to put more tin foil under their knit caps.

Chris Bushala

May 30, 2012 at 11:56 am

Anyone want to bet we’ll see this reported on FFFF? Not in a million years. Just like FFFF will never report on Bushala harassing his brewery tenant. None of his pals have the gonads to stadn up to him publicly.